Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 22

Trigger Warning! ⚠️ Bl00d, c@nn!b@l!sm, and st@bb!ng

The guard disappeared exactly at seven-thirty and that's when the plan was set into motion. We used the keys to unlock the cage and Carmen went over to the wire to cut it. "Are you sure cutting that is a good idea?" Amelia asked nervously, "What if it sets off an alarm?" "It'll be fine," Carmen told her, "If it's an alarm it won't matter too much because we don't plan on sticking around here." Then he ripped the wire apart. Suddenly, the lights went out. "Guys the power went out," Jack stated. "I noticed," Leo replied, "It should be fine. We either cut the power to the lights or we took the whole system down. Now let's go." We took off down the rows of plants and headed toward the door. A few moments later we heard shouts from the direction we came. "Our friends have noticed we're gone," Chase said, "We need to pick up the pace." We sped up and continued to make our way through the greenhouse. I threw a glance behind me to make sure we weren't being followed and that's when I noticed Leo was a little behind us. If the guards caught up to us, they would grab him first. Slowing down a bit, I grabbed his wrist and began to pull him along. "As soon as we get out of here, I need to cut this stupid cast off me," He told me. "Once we get out of here we won't have to deal with any more of this," I replied. We rounded a corner and just past a row of plants that looked suspiciously like weed, was the door. We were almost there! My celebration was short-lived though when the sound of thundering footsteps could be heard from not far behind us. The whole group broke into a sprint at the sound only slowing when we got to the door. "Why are we slowing down?" Anna asked.

"The door is locked!" Chase shouted. "Then kick it down!" Ella said. "It's a steal door!" He growled. "Shit," I cursed glancing around for some other way to escape. There was no other way out. "Move," Leo demanded moving toward the door, in his hands were two pieces of thin rusted metal. "Where did you get those from?" I asked. "The floor," he replied, kneeling and jamming one of the pieces into the lock. "What are you doing?" Jack asked. "Picking the lock," Leo told him, "Or at least attempting to." "You can pick locks!?" Ella shouted. "No," he answered, "I've just been taught how to do it. I've never tried it before." "Who taught you how to pick locks!?" I asked. "Can you please let me focus!?" he snapped. We all stood there anxiously watching him, the sound of footsteps came closer and closer until we saw the guards turn the corner. "Leo! Open the door!" I told him. "I'm trying!" he shouted. Suddenly, there was a click and the door swung open. I grabbed Leo's wrist and dragged him out the door the others right behind us. "I don't think we can leave the loop!" I told them. "Why?" Ella asked. "They'll just follow us out," I said, "We need to hide somewhere." "Where would we hide?" Anna asked. "The library," I replied, "The librarian may be weird, but I think she'll help us." "But isn't she dead?" Jack asked. "I don't know," I shrugged, "I'm just hoping for the best." We tore through the streets heading back toward the hospital, once we got there, we could make it to the library. We continued to run, and after making a few wrong turns we managed to lose the guards. After a few more minutes of running, we finally made it to the front of the hospital. I let out a sigh of relief, we got the first half done now we just need to do the rest. "Which way to the library?" Amelia asked. "We have to take a right, go straight, then left when we get to the next stop sign," I informed her, "It's the second building on the left." "That's great and all but how are we getting in?" Chase asked. "We'll just have Leo pick the lock again," I said. "Hate to break it to you, but the fact I got that lock to turn was pure luck," Leo sighed, "I'm not sure if I'll be able to get another open."

"You can still give it a try," I told him, "It's that or getting caught." "Um, guys we don't have time to talk about this," Jack interrupted, "In case you forgot we're being chased!" "Right," I said getting back on track, "Let's go." As we took off toward to library, I could have sworn I heard the sound of a high-pitched scream in the distance. It didn't take long for us to get to the library, just as Leo crouched in front of the door handle, we heard a low chuckle. "I'm surprised you made it this far," Brian said, "I didn't think you'd have the brains to escape. Honestly, I'm not convinced that you're smart enough to have gotten out, I think you just got lucky. Especially with that lock." A loud recognizable shriek echoed in the distance; the demons were here. "Either way, I still caught you," Brian smirked, "So you haven't escaped anything." Five familiar figures emerged behind Brian, and I felt my blood run cold. I glanced back at Leo and noticed that as Brian was speaking, he was trying to pick the lock. If I could keep Brian distracted Leo might be able to get us inside. "How can you be so sure?" I asked, "We escaped once what's to say we can't get away this time?" "My little friends," he replied, "You've met them before." "Yeah, before we got away from them," I told him. "But this time you're backed into a corner." Brian smirked, "You don't have anywhere to run this time." "Is that true?" I asked. "Yes," he replied with a wicked grin on his face, "And if you want to keep your friend alive, you'd better tell him to stop messing with that lock." I glanced back at Leo who was still messing with the lock. "These things are blind," Brian explained, "They can only sense sound and movement. As soon as one of those two things happens, they can see their surroundings." I sucked in a breath, that's why they didn't attack us when we were in the closet! They couldn't see us until Anna screamed!

"Don't breathing and blinking count as sound and movement?" Ella asked. "Unfortunately, no," Brian said, "Since it's a regular thing their senses got used to it, so their brain tuned it out." "Oh yes how unfortunate," she scoffed, "Us not being doomed by uncontrollable things is just awful." Brian glared at her but ignored her. "Luke," he said, "Tell Leo to stop messing with the lock, or I will tear him to shreds and if him being in danger isn't enough to sway you, I will take Ella down with him." "Leo, step away from the lock," I instructed. "Fine," he growled backing away from the door. This situation kept getting worse. There has to be some way to get out of this. Looking around, my eyes landed on the rusted pieces of metal in Leo's hand. "Leo, hand me a piece of metal," I whispered. "Why?" he whispered. "I have a plan," I replied, "Just trust me." Discreetly passing me one of the metals, I took the piece from his hand and hid it behind my back. If I could get close enough to Brian, I could stab him with it. I don't want to kill him but he's hunting us and if he's stabbed, the fresh blood might distract the demons enough for us to get away. "Okay, you win," I lied, "We'll come back with you." "WHAT!?" Everyone shouted. I gave them the shut up and go with it look and they all went quiet. "Fine," Jack sighed stepping forward, "It's better than getting torn apart by demons." The others followed behind Jack, but I could see Ella and Leo's hesitation. When we reached Brian, I took a deep breath and plunged the piece of metal into his lower abdomen as hard as I could. There was a sickening squelch and I quickly backed away from him. There was a crimson ring, staining Brian's shirt where the piece of metal entered. His face was full of shock and disbelief, "Di-did you just stab me?" I nodded shakily, "I am so sorry," I apologized, "I did not want to do that." I heard the demons growling, but no one moved. I had just stabbed someone!

"RUN!" Ella shouted snapping us all out of the trance. The demons were not attacking Brian like I had expected the to, they were coming for us. We took off running toward the street between the library and the building next door. I was almost there when I heard someone shout, "LUKE LOOK OUT!" I barely had time to process what was going on before I was tackled to the ground, and I heard a nauseating crunch. A second later there was a loud woosh and everything was quiet. Lifting my head from the ground, I looked up to see a shimmering gold force field. "What the" I whispered. "You're welcome," an old voice chuckled. Standing at the front of the library was the librarian who was holding some sort of glowing magic book. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner," she apologized, "The dumb book decided now was the time to play hide and seek so I couldn't find it." "It's fine," I muttered looking around and making sure my friends were okay. Jack and Ella seemed relatively fine, though Jack looked like he was hyperventilating. Anna's back was to me but by the way, her shoulders were shaking I'm pretty sure she was crying, but I couldn't find Leo. Suddenly, I became aware of a heavy weight on top of me. Pushing it off of me, I heard it cursing. Leo fell on the ground beside me looking quite annoyed. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Dumb thing ruined my shirt," he grumbled. "What are you talking about?" I asked sitting up. "My shirt," he said sitting up as well so I could see what he was talking about. His shirt was in shambles, but the most horrifying part was that there was a large chunk of flesh missing from his side. "Oh my gosh!? You're bleeding!" I shouted. Leo glanced down, "Oh, yeah I forgot about that." "How do you forget about something like that!?" I questioned, "You're missing a huge chunk of skin!" Leo just shrugged, "I'm more concerned about my shirt." "Is he injured?" the librarian asked rushing over to us. "Yes, he's bleeding pretty badly," I told her. "Bring him inside," she instructed running back toward the library. I scooped him up and followed her back to the building.

As we were entering, I heard an ear-piercing scream, I turned around just in time to see Brian being torn to pieces by the demons.

Wow! That's a wrap, I hope you liked this chapter! Anyways, I'll see you next week. Have a great day! Bye! 🙃